Security and Defence

Team Leader: Dr Rowan Allport – Senior Fellow

Deputy Leader: Julie Lenarz – Executive Director

Our research on security and defence focuses on analysis of Western foreign policy, international security issues and cyber-security. The group maintains a strong regional expertise on the MENA region.

The Human Security Centre (HSC) has today published ‘Fire and Ice - A New Maritime Strategy for NATO's Northern Flank’. The paper discusses the current challenge posed by Russia, and the options NATO has for countering it in the Atlantic and northern realms.

Key economic indicators could suggest that there is nothing to worry about for King Mohammed VI. and decision-makers across the country. But these neglect the ongoing direct and indirect security threats the kingdom has to deal with.

Whilst not an easy task, the potential establishment of a US national space forces serves as a cautionary reminder that space is no longer the unknown, but a tangible domain for human exploration and exploitation.

Nobody disputes that security co-operation should continue between the UK and EU after Brexit. Instead, the questions revolve around just what form security co-operation takes – specifically, how it will deviate from current arrangements.

President Trump's outspoken antipathy towards NATO over the last few weeks does not constitute a shift in his attitude towards the organisation. Consequently, his statements may be better interpreted as an attempt to distract from other issues, rather than as a warning signal.

The rate of natural disasters has risen dramatically in the past two years, causing increasing risk of destruction every year. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, since 1990, natural disasters have affected roughly 217 million annually. The economic ...

The Human Security Centre (HSC) has today published its briefing on the UK Government’s Modernising Defence Programme (MDP). The MDP is designed to set out the future direction of Britain’s approach to defence strategy.

Optimistically, there is a chance that 2018 will be studied in the future as a positive watershed in nuclear proliferation and diplomacy. However, there is an equal chance that 2018 will be hallmarked by errors and nuclear instability.

In advance of the release of the findings if the Modernising Defence Programme next month, the House of Commons Defence Select Committee has published its inquiry 'Beyond 2 per cent: A preliminary review of the Modernising Defence Programme'.